14 within 3½ hours · 8 under 2 hours
Puerto Vallarta's nearest Pueblo Mágico is Sayulita, the surf village forty-five minutes up the Nayarit coast. Behind the bay, the Sierra Madre holds colonial mountain towns reached by winding roads: Mascota, about two hours, with its plaza and raicilla distilleries; San Sebastián del Oeste, a silver town in the clouds; and Talpa de Allende, a pilgrimage town with a chewing-gum crafts tradition. Inland Nayarit's Jala and Ixtlán del Río, and the old port of San Blas, fill out a long weekend.
Best months for the area: Jan, Mar, Nov, Dec (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 8
Close enough to drive there and back from Puerto Vallarta in a day. Closest first.
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 6
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
2 h 26 min · 128 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Nov, Dec
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct
3 h 15 min · 144 km
Best: Mar, Apr, May, Nov
Fiestas: Jan, Aug, Oct, Dec
~3 h 15 min · 220 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, Jul, Aug, Sep, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Puerto Vallarta has its own airport, Puerto Vallarta (PVR), so you can fly in and rent a car there.
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Puerto Vallarta. Each pueblo's page has its own getting-there notes.
Drive times are from OpenStreetMap routing without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance and may run longer on mountain roads.